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Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Review: Greta and the Goblin King by Chloe Jacobs

Greta and the Goblin King by Chloe JacobsPublisher: EntangledPublication date: November 13th 2012.My rating: 4 stars

While trying to
save her brother from a witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in
herself, falling through a portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are
the enemy and every ogre, ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with
the eclipse.

To survive, Greta
has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at
what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin
king, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her will
to escape.

But Greta’s not the
only one looking to get out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to
opening the portal, and with the next eclipse mere days away, every
bloodthirsty creature in the realm is after her—including Isaac. If Greta
fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will
be safe from what follows her back...

Vampires,
werewolves, shape shifters, dragons what else is really left for paranormal books
to delve into? How about goblins? Those crafty shifty looking buggers from
Harry Potter immediately came to mind, but in Greta and the Goblin King we are
faced with a whole different kind of goblin, a goblin king who’s fierce,
arrogant, infuriating, and confident but most importantly when he growls was
hot? Yes ladies forget about the preconceived images you already have of short
goblins with sharp claws and razor like teeth, because this goblin will leave
you in a trembling mess.

As you
can already see Isaac the goblin is easily taking up the majority of my
thoughts, this is how much of a great impression he left on me. Anyway I digress;
I will come back to Isaac in much more detail later. Greta and the Goblin King
was a book which took me highly by surprise. As soon as I started this book I
knew Jacobs had lured me in a world that I didn’t want to leave any time soon.
A world where poor Greta finds herself thrust into. A world she’s the suspecting
victim of, with goblins and fairies and who knows what other creatures. Who
become even more rabid, and display large amounts of bloodlust during the
eclipse that Greta has to be locked away until they calm down, how has Greta
managed to survive? And why was she specifically chosen for this insane world?
These are the questions that were on my mind throughout. It was such a
dangerous and scary world how the heck did a girl of Greta’s age manage to cope? Losing everything back home I know I would be a complete mess, and realising
some of the creatures you actually dreamed about when you were younger actually
exist? Greta was lucky as she stumbled out into a crazy world, but she found
someone who took her in, knowing about the dislike of humans in Mylena, Luke
trained her well, she knew how to defend herself and keep herself hidden and to
herself when necessary. But then an unexpected turn of brutal events forces
Greta to go on the run, with god knows what after her, she is immediately thrown
into a game of cat and mouse with the newly crowned Goblin King Isaac and in
the process stumbles across something she never imagined.

The
first few pages Greta and the Goblin King was brimming with brilliant fast pace
and action. But as soon as the unfortunate incident took place, Jacob’s upped the
ante a whole another level that I found myself flying through the pages at a
frenzied pace with my heart thrumming against my chest at a high accelerated
beat. With one particular mission in sights, knowing she had to be willing to
sacrifice her own life and with the eclipse looming even closer, Greta had it
all to deal with, but I truly admired her strength and stubbornness she
displayed. She knew she had the easy option she could take at any time, but she
showed the will and courage to battle on. The group of characters which emerged
in her path along the way were a nice surprise, in a lot of ways they reminded
me of The Lost Boys from Peter Pan, stuck in a world with deadly creatures and
no parents but they still showed the will to survive. I was so torn between
Greta remaining with this group, because they needed her help the most and the
bottom line was that it was the right thing to do. But then there was the
infuriating yet hot goblin Isaac who insisted on protecting Greta and
threatening to find her anyway. What was his underlying reason for pursuing
Greta? Of course all of Mylena disliked humans, so could she really trust him?

Greta
and the Goblin King is a book sure to keep you on your toes, with its endless
surprises, constant questions at the tip of your tongue, it’s positive to keep
you fired up. I was torn about which path I wanted Greta to take, but was satisfied
with the way the majority of things turned out. There are some aspects which
were left unanswered but I’m hoping these will get tackled in the next
instalment.

I
highly praise Jacobs for her alluring and beautiful writing; she was quick to
hook you in with her tantalising pace and was also able to throw a few
curveballs that further damaged my helpless heart. If you’re looking for
something different and want to get lost in a mystifying world of rampage,
destruction and addictive characters I hugely recommend picking this book up.

Favourite Quote:"I'll take care of myselfStubborn human. I will find you.Arrogant goblin. I dare you."

17 comments:

Incredible review, Jasprit! I'm so glad you loved this one and I definitely thought this was a novel with endless surprises, not to mention that Greta was a phenomenal protagonist. I wasn't as sold on Isaac as you were, but I definitely can't wait till the sequel is out - I already want to go back to Mylena! ;)

I ADORE your review, Jasprit. :) Greta and the Goblin King didn't interest me much when I first saw it but now I'm definitely considering adding it to my TBR pile. I love fast paced, beautifully written books, and the manner by which you described this is memerising! I approve of the quote, too. ;)

I have the book for review and now I'm super stoked to start it after reading your review! It seems like you fell hard for Issac! I'm very much looking forward to meeting him soon. The world seems very exciting. Great review as always, Jasprit!

This is one of these books which covers I see all over the place but I have never read the blurb. Lame I know. Now I see how interesting it sounds! :) Hmmm Issac sounds interesting...Okay I get it, it's yours. But I can borrow him sometimes *puppy eyes* ;) Amazing review Jasprit :)

I can't think of anything else but Labyrinth when I hear about this book! Especially as you mentioned a goblin king! It sounds like a great read and so different to all the vamp/dystopian books around!

Dammit Jasprit! I was on the fence on buying this one and figured I'd just hold off and spend that money on something else I'm dying to read, and now you've gone and written this review and I simply must buy this book. *shakes tragically empty wallet at you* I love the sound of Isaac, I can't wait to meet a goblin king. The one I currently have in my head is David Bowie from The Labyrinth wearing some shockingly absurd pants and singing. No good. I need something sexier to replace that image!

Whoa, I want a goblin king all of my own! I'll read this soon just so I can fight with you over him. :)It sounds great. Until now, I wasn't convinced I'd like this, but you made a very strong case, Jasprit. I'm in. Must meet goblin king.

I enjoyed this one as well and goblins in this one are nothing like my preconceived notion of them. I just wish there was more detail on the whole goblin species. This was definitely a nail biting read and such a dangerous world. I really admired Greta and her strength and cannot wait to see where this one goes.

It's so hard to imagine a Goblin as an attractive boy! I can't wait to find out more about them, because I haven't read any books about them so far. I like how this book has endless surprises! That always makes it fun to continue :D Great review!

I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed reading about Isaac the Goblin King - who would have thought goblin could be so hot?! The land of Mylena was definitely filled with danger, and like you, I love Jacobs' beautiful writing. Thanks for sharing your review with us :)

I do love how YA authors seem to be exploring every possible paranormal creature in their books. Goblins are definitely unique though and I'm curious as to how Jacobs handled that topic. Great review! Definitely sounds like an interesting book.

HIII JASPRIT AND RACHEL!!!!!!!!! How are you guys?? Miss me? :P Sorry I've been kinda absent lately- I was on a short blogging break but I'm back and wow stunning review as always, J. I love the sound of this book! So different and really fascinating. Whenever I think of goblins I think of Lord of the Rings for some reason. :P

'...a goblin king who’s fierce, arrogant, infuriating, and confident but most importantly when he growls was hot?'

OMG! I think I'm liking the sound of this book more and more... ;) It kinda reminds me of Obsidian in the sense I never imagined in my wildest dreams that aliens could be sexy, but there you go! Heehee I can't wait to meet Isaac! Lovely review as always, J. Missed you guys <3

This book was just so amazing. I stayed up last night until my vision was getting blurry because I just couldn't put it down. I kept telling myself, after this chapter I will go to bed. The chapter ended and I couldn't stop there, I had to know what happened. It was a never ending cycle. Though, when you can't read the words on the page in front of you, it's a good sign as any that it's time to call it a night. Seriously. Buy this book, read this book, love this book. I assure you that you will!